Building of the Enabled Web-Based GIS Participation System: A Tool to Enhance Community Participation in City Development Plan
Anusuriya Devaraju, Nanna Suryana Herman, Shahrin Sahib Faculty of Information and Communication Technology,
Technical University of Malaysia Melaka UTeM {anusuriya,nsuryana,shahrinsahib}utem.edu.my
Abstract
This research has been conducted under the frame work of GIS interoperability infrastructure
financed by the Malaysian Ministry of Science and Technology. In this paper, we discuss the
development and analyze the potential application of the Geographical Information System GIS and
Internet computing to enhance community participation in the decision making processes i.e.
in Local Plan of Block 3, Melaka Tengah district as a model. The focus of this paper is on the designing
and development of the enabled Web-based GIS Participation System called, GISPSS. It is
considered to be similar to a Real Time Resources Discovery Server but it comprises four main
complimentary components: the Map Viewer, the Objection Support, the Planning Process
Documentation, and the Web Content Management. The functional features of these
components are highlighted. The multi-tiered architecture forms the basis of the Enabled Web-
based GIS system has been adopted in this research.
Keywords
: Web-based GIS, Draft Local Plan,
Public Participation, Multi-tiered architecture
1. Introduction
Town planning is a discipline of land use planning, which involves and determines how
community and the environment will be affected by any changes in future land use. The planning
process typically involves many stages such as development growth monitoring, plan review and
policy appraisal. The task of monitoring and reviewing plan’s progress involves the assembly
and the integration of geographic information [1].
Geographic Information System GIS is computer software for capturing, storing, checking,
integrating, analyzing and displaying data about the earth that is spatially referenced. GIS is regarded as
a vital display and analysis tool in planning process, used extensively in applications such as
land-use mapping, transportation mapping, utilities infrastructure mapping, and natural resource
assessment.
An important stage in planning process is the decision making among the parties involved,
namely governmental bodies, different stake holders and the community. Harris and Wiener
1998 envision a role for GIS in addressing these challenges, a GIS which ‘seek[s] to broaden the use
of digital spatial data handling technologies with the objective of increasing the number and
diversity of people who are capable of participating in spatial decision-making’. Therefore the
community or popular participation in decision making particularly in determining their
community needs is a key success to City Planning. Today, World Wide Web WWW is a pervasive
part of our everyday lives. With the Web, local authorities able to deliver decision-making
environments based around GIS to the public across the Internet, enhancing the community-
government relationships.
This paper presents the development of an Enabled Web-based GIS Participation System
GISPSS, in order to enhance the public participation in the preparation of Draft Local Plan.
The chosen model is referred to Melaka Tengah district of Melaka State. The district includes 6
blocks. However, we decided to focus on Batu Berendam sub-district, located on Block 3 of
Melaka Tengah district for the prototype development.
The contents of this paper are organized as follows. In the following sections, we first explain
factors that motivate and consider GISPSS development. Then we briefly explain the
theoretical concepts and technologies used to build the GISPSS. This is followed by detailed design of
the system prototype. The implementation includes the demonstration of Web-based GIS system to
support public participation. Finally, conclusions and future developments are presented.
2. The need of community participation
